1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new zoom lens and a new image pickup apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a zoom lens having an image stabilization function suitable for apparatuses, such as digital video cameras and digital still cameras, and to an image pickup apparatus using the zoom lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, digital video cameras and digital still cameras utilizing solid-state image pickup devices have achieved high optical characteristics and have been miniaturized, and hence, zoom lenses applied to such apparatuses also have been desired to be small and have high optical characteristics. In addition, an image stabilization function has been strongly desired for avoiding image blur of a shooting image due to vibration caused by a camera shake and the like.
There have been various types of zoom lenses having such an image stabilization function for correcting the image blur caused by the vibration at the shooting.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-582569 suggests a zoom lens including a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having a positive refractive power, and stabilizing an image by moving the second lens group in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the zoom lens.
Also, there is disclosed a zoom lens including a first lens group having a negative refractive power, a second lens group having a positive refractive power, and a third lens group having a negative refractive power, and stabilizing an image by moving the third lens group in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis.
Further, there is disclosed a zoom lens including a first lens group having a negative refractive power and a second lens group having a positive refractive power, the second lens group being divided into a positive front group and a positive rear group, and stabilizing an image by moving the front or rear group in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis.